Posted on 05/21/2003 2:20:12 PM PDT by Johnny Gage
Two Studies Vindicate Atkins Diet
May 21, 2003 4:00 pm US/Central (AP) A month after Dr. Robert C. Atkins' death, his much-ridiculed diet has received its most powerful scientific support yet: two studies in one of medicine's most distinguished journals show it really does help people lose weight faster without raising their cholesterol.
The research, in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found that people on the high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet lose twice as much weight over six months as those on the standard low-fat diet recommended by most major health organizations.
However, one of the studies found that the Atkins dieters regain much of the weight by the end of one year.
Atkins, who died April 17 at age 72 after falling and hitting his head on an icy sidewalk, lived to see several shorter studies that found, to researchers' great surprise, that his diet is effective and healthy in the short run.
Although those reports have been presented at medical conferences, none until now has been published in a top-tier journal. And one of the studies in the journal lasted a year, making it the longest one yet.
"For the last 20 years that I've been helping people lose weight, I've been trashing the Atkins diet -- without any real data to rely on," said Dr. Michael Hamilton, an obesity researcher who was not part of either study. "Now we have some data to give us some guidance."
Now, he said, he would neither trash it nor endorse it. "I'm going to say I don't know. The evidence isn't in," he said.
One study ran six months and was conducted by the Veterans Affairs Department; the yearlong study was led by Gary D. Foster, who runs the weight-loss program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Atkins' diet books have sold 15 million copies since the first one was published in 1972. From the start, doctors branded the Atkins diet foolish and dangerous, warning that the large amounts of beef and fat would lead to sky-high cholesterol levels. In both studies, the Atkins dieters generally had better levels of "good" cholesterol and triglycerides, or fats in the blood. There was no difference in "bad" cholesterol or blood pressure. Dr. Frederick F. Samaha of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who led the VA study, said both studies indicate that people do lose more weight on Atkins, "but the difference is not great."
The 132 men and women in the VA study started out weighing an average of 286 pounds. After six months, those on the Atkins diet had lost an average of 12.8 pounds, those on the low-fat diet 4.2.
The other study involved 63 participants who weighed an average of 217 pounds at the start. After six months, the Atkins group lost 15.4 pounds, the group on the standard diet 7.
But at the end of a year, the Atkins dieters had regained about a third of the weight. Their net loss averaged 9.7 pounds. The low-fat dieters had regained about one-fifth of the weight, for a net loss of 5.5 pounds.
The year-end difference was not big enough to tell whether it was caused by the diets, Foster said.
About 40 percent of the patients dropped out of each study. And while supporters of the Atkins diet say it is easier to stick with, people on the Atkins regimen were just as likely to drop out as people on the standard diets.
The important finding, Foster said, is that the Atkins diet appears to be a healthy short-term way to lose weight. Nobody has studied it long enough to tell whether it is a healthy way to maintain that loss, he said.
Collette Heimowitz, director of education and research at Atkins Health and Medical Information Services, said people there were not surprised by the weight loss and improved cholesterol.
"But I'm thrilled that serious researchers are taking a hard look at the program, so that health care professionals and physicians would find comfort in offering Atkins as an alternative to the one-size-fits-all hypothesis of low-fat, low-calorie," she said.
The studies did not convince Kathleen Zelman, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
"There's never been any denying that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets such as Atkins do, absolutely, cause weight loss," she said. "But do they hold up over time and can you stay on them over time?"
From Foster's study, it does not look like it, she said.
Dr. Atkins developed his diet to help his heart patients, and noticed after a period of time that his overweight patients lost weight, and his diabetic patients were able to lower or, in a lot of cases, completely stop using insulin.
But I'm no longer able to even consider the Atkins diet. I've recently developed painful gout in my right foot, and Atkins would do nothing but aggravate it.
I'm 39 years old and I got a disease that supposed to strike old men in the eighteenth century!
Now, that's funny! Since alcohol aggravates gout! So, yep, blame and stop the diet, but keep drinking! LOL
Thanks, I only take one pill per day but I do need to lose some weight.
There is a major history of heart attacks in my family.
I am 52 years old.
I love meat, eggs and pork rinds (hog hides).
This sounds like the diet for me.
My doctor tried to put me on a high carb, low fat diet to control my gestational diabetes. I was supposed to start the day out with high glycemic fruit, cereal and skim milk. To keep my blood sugar down??? Excuse me??? Fortunately I knew that would be the worst thing I could do, so I cut out refined carbs, watched my quantities of carbs from grains and fruit and ate all the fat, protein and vegetables I wanted to.
My blood sugar levels amazed her, and I became her star patient. I am not exaggerating when I say they amazed her. I got the feeling that I was one of the few OB patients in her office that don't end up on insulin, and it was due to my rejecting her advice!
I was planning to after my baby was born. I didn't want to fight with her for 3 months. I was just going to show up at my 6 week checkup and give her my sample menus and tell her that I thought she'd like to see them since she was so happy about my numbers.
Now, though, I'm in a spot because I'm arguing with her about something else and don't want to tick her off further by letting her know I threw her "diabetic appropriate" diet out the window. My husband and I have experience with caregivers falsifying information in charts when they think they have a problem patient, and that's a headache I don't need. It's a shame, because I really thought I'd be able to make a difference with her future patients because of my own case history.
http://www.low-carb-friends.com/bbs/index.php
The "main lobby" has general issues discussions related to low carbing, and I also like the recipe forum.
See you there.
I second that...I have that open in another window right now!
Katie is my wife! That is one of the websites she goes to.
There is a difference of opinion in scientific circles as to just what constitutes adequate protein or what is excess protein.
Twinkie, you DON'T understand the diet. Why not admit it? Why not just say, "You're right. I got on here and criticized this diet when I'm not really that familiar with it."
If you had read the book and been able to comprehend it, you would understand why we don't call it a high protein plan; furthermore, you would understand why YOUR calling it a high protein plan tips us off as to your ignorance. But what is more telling is that you called it a "low to no carbohydrate" diet.
There is not one portion of Dr. Atkins' diet that contains no carbohydrates. Not even the fat fast designed only for people with extreme metabolic resistance is devoid of carbs.
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